Fairy Magic (28 page)

“What is that?” she asked.

“I’ve synced my magic to yours. They are flowing together.”

“You can do that?”

“Yes.”

“You can sync to anyone, to any kind of magic?”

“Most, yes,” he said. “Mages, fairies, vampires… ghosts are tricky, but even some ghosts. I’ve practiced. Granted, you are half-fairy, half-mage, which makes this more difficult.”

She sighed. “Sorry for being difficult.”

“There’s no need to be sorry. I like your magic. So unique. A half-fairy Spirit Warrior. I don’t believe there’s ever been another one like you.”

Her magic tingled, like a little golden drop of liquid fire falling into an icy lake. “What was that?” she gasped as the lake of her magic melted into a sea of flames.

“You felt it?”

“Yes,” she choked out.

“Good. I was feeding you some of my magic.”

A second drop of liquid fire dripped into her pool of magic, setting every nerve in her body on fire. She coughed over the moan that tried to escape her lips.

“Was it too much?” he asked.

Curling, burning tendrils of pleasure shot through her. “No.” This was not happening. “More please.”

He chuckled. “Not too much. Not yet. Dragon magic is potent. And addictive.”

“I don’t care.” Her eyes flashed open. Her fingers gripped to his shoulders. “More.” She had to have more.

His hands lifted, holding her back. She struggled uselessly against his hold.

“Now I will help you access the spirit realm,” he told her.

She swallowed down the piercing pulse of need rising inside of her. “You’ve done this before?”

“Yes,” he said. “Relax. Don’t move.”

She let her struggling arms go limp. As he reached down, squeezing her hands, she tried to relax. She tried not to move, forcing her hands not to reach out and touch him. She could feel his magic sliding across the surface of hers, trying to find a way inside. She drew in a deep breath, taking the plunge. His magic poured past her defenses, bathing her in sweet warmth.

She saw the two of them in a boat floating down a gentle stream of magic. He dipped his hand into the stream. The magic responded to his touch, bubbling and popping. The stream began to flow faster, pushing their boat over crashing rapids. Too much, too fast. She tensed up.

“Shh, relax. You have to let go, Naomi. I won’t let the magic wash you away. I’m here,” he promised.

She nodded, trying to shed her layers of armor-clad control. He guided them over rapids. They were flowing toward a beacon of spirit magic. Like a sun, it pulsed—beautiful, blinding, devastating. But they would never make it there. The stream had grown wild, roaring toward the edge of a waterfall. Naomi grabbed the sides of the boat.

“You have to take the plunge,” he said, peeling her fingers off of the boat.

Plunge over the edge of a waterfall? That wasn’t what she’d signed up for. Panic took spark inside of her. She looked around for something to hold onto. She saw a floating stick pass by the boat. Maybe she could use it as an oar. She leaned over, reaching for it.

Makani blocked her hand. “I am here.” His arms wrapped around her. “I told you I wouldn’t let you fall. Trust me.”

Her gaze darted forward, to the edge of the waterfall. She shook beneath his iron-clad grasp. Humming soothing chants into her ear, Makani poured his magic over her.

They fell over the edge. The drop was almost as exhilarating as the high of her rising magic as they soared toward the spirit magic on the back of a rainbow.

“Spirit magic,” she gasped, smiling at the twinkle of colorful lights crashing over her senses, bathing them in waves of pure rapture. “It’s so beautiful.” She leaned back into him.

“Yes,” his mouth whispered against her cheek. “But it’s not over.”

The rainbow melted into a river. They flowed down the backs of the rapids, moving even faster than before.

“Not all the way there yet,” he said.

Another waterfall—bigger and faster—waited up ahead. Panic tightened her throat. Her hands grasped for the boat. They found Makani instead.

“Don’t fight it.” He intertwined his fingers with hers.

“Is there another rainbow?” she asked.

“Not this time.”

“I will drop?”

“No.” His breath kissed her ear. “You will fly.”

Then he pulled them both overboard, over the edge of the waterfall. She felt the warm embrace of his magic wrapping around her, searing her senses with a power as ancient as it was seductive.

“More,” she gasped as wings sprouted from her back.

“I’ve already given you too much,” he told her.

“More,” she snarled.

He gave her more. The surge of dragon magic tore through her. Her body shook, the spasms of fire flooding her in a deluge of pleasure. A flash flood of pulsing ecstasy rushed across her, spilling her into a shaking, spasming heap onto the bay floor.

Naomi scrambled up, streaks of white light searing her vision. Her body quaked with the aftershocks of… Oh, shit. She looked at Makani, whose breaths were coming out in hard rasps. He met her gaze, his eyes smoldering with magic and need.

She kicked her feet against the floor, trying to put some distance between them. “What the hell was that?”

“That was the spirit realm,” he said. “You connected to its magic.”

She staggered to her feet, her head still spinning with magic. With him. His scent was all over her.

“And all the rest? What game are you playing?” she demanded.

As smooth as a waterfall of molten gold, he rose from the ground. “You wanted more magic. You asked for it.” Flecks of gold magic sparkled in his eyes. “You demanded it.”

Shit, shit, shit.

His brows arched. “How did it feel?” He moved forward, reaching for her.

She back-stepped. “Horrible. Absolutely wretched.”

His smile was pure sin. “That’s not what your magic is telling me. Or your eyes. You had a taste of freedom, and you liked it.”

She stepped back again. “Don’t you
ever
do that to me again,” she growled at him.

Then she walked in stumbled steps out of the bay.

* * *

Naomi had been trying to avoid Makani since that incident yesterday in the bay, but it was hard to avoid someone you’re stuck with inside that big, empty warehouse. There weren’t even any rooms besides the big bay. Well, unless she wanted to hide in the tiny bathroom.

She should have been practicing her spirit magic with him, but she didn’t feel like being responsible today. Besides, if she had to spend another second alone in that bay with him, there wouldn’t be much magic practice going on. The adult thing would have been to stay in the bay and suck it up, ignoring everything her body was screaming at her to do. Instead, she spent the day shopping. Yeah, being an adult was totally overrated.

She returned at the end of the day with her arms full of shopping bags and that sense of inner peace only a long day at the mall could provide. She drove her car into the bay, then quickly pressed the remote to shut the door after her. Makani was sitting against the wall, reading a book about spirit magic. It must have been from the stack Gran had sent over.

Naomi felt a twinge of guilt. Here she was having fun and he was toiling away in this stuffy bay. She told herself that it was for the greater good. She needed to clear her mind if she was ever going to access her magic.

Yeah, she didn’t buy her flimsy excuse either.

As she stepped out of her car, he rose. “You’re back.”

“I’m back.”

“How was it?” he asked.

“No one from hell attacked me. And no one followed me. I checked.”

“Good.”

She left all the bags except for the one with the groceries in the front seat of the convertible. She carried their meals for the next few days to the refrigerator and began putting them away.

“Are these for me?” he asked.

She spun around to find him standing just steps from her holding up a lacy pair of panties he’d pulled from one of her bags.

“No, they’re for me.” She snatched the panties out of his hand and stuffed them back into the bag. “I don’t think they’re your size.”

He chuckled. “I wasn’t planning on wearing them. I was planning on ripping them off of you.”

The air between them crackled, thick with magic and wicked intentions. Naomi held the shopping bag between them like a barrier.

“No, I’m not interested.” The words rasped in her throat like dried sandpaper. “There will be no ripping or touching. Keep your hands and your magic to yourself.”

Makani glanced down at the bag between them, a smirk stretching his mouth. Standing here now, face-to-face with the dragon, she realized how pitiful that plastic barrier was. His hand darted out, pulling another piece of lingerie from the bag. A bra.

She snatched it out of his hands. “Stop touching my things.”

He grabbed another bag from the car, looking inside. His sly smile peered over the rim of the bag.

“You know, for someone who claims she’s not interested, you sure did buy a lot of skimpy things to prance around in front of me,” he commented.

“I’m not prancing. You are stealing.” She grabbed the bag out of his hands, then planted herself between him and the shopping bags inside of her car.

“How about you do yourself a favor, and go put these on,” he said smoothly. “That is why you bought them, isn’t it? To tempt me.” His gaze slid up her body.

“No.”

“You are lying to yourself,” he told her.

No, she wasn’t. She’d known exactly what she was doing when she’d bought those things. It was a bad, bad idea born from a moment of temporary insanity. She’d wanted to make him lose control, to get back at him. But he never lost control.

His eyes caught on her shoulder. “Oh, I see.” A satisfied smile curled his lips. “You have already put something on. That’s new.”

She tucked the wayward bra strap back under her tank top. “You’re familiar with all of my underwear, are you?”

“Of course.” He glanced at the hint of lace still peeking out of her shirt. “Red.” His voice was as soft as rose petals. “Perfect. I see how you seduced so many men. How you made them lose control.”

She turned away.

He came up behind her. “And you liked it,” he whispered against her ear. “You liked making all thought evaporate from their minds.”

She froze, trying to keep very, very still in front of the dragon.

“But none of them could do the same.”

He pressed the hard length of his body against her back. Her hands caught against the car, holding onto the windowsill for dear life.

“Oh, you have been missing so much.” His mouth dipped to her neck. “Tell me, yes, Naomi, and I will make you forget about everything. I will wind you up so tightly that there won’t be room for a single thought in your head except that hard, throbbing heat between your legs.”

Magic cascaded down her breasts, searing her nipples, squeezing them into points of velvet-coated flames—flames that trailed down her stomach with agonizing slowness, igniting every nerve ending along the way in a chain reaction of ecstasy-inducing explosions. Each one burned hotter than the last as the tendrils of his magic dripped lower. It expelled a soft breath, then plunged between her legs.

She gasped, her body collapsing, hardly unable to withstand the onslaught of desire.

“Tell me, yes, Naomi,” he whispered into his ear. “Tell me you want me as much as I want you.”

His magic caressed her body, searing away her defenses, peeling back her layers of control one-by-one, leaving her naked, exposed. His hands trailed his magic, slow and soft.

Naomi turned around, keeping her eyes down, afraid of what she’d see in his eyes. He set his hand under her chin, tilting her head until her gaze met his. Breathing heavily, she stared up at him through lowered lashes. Gold glowed across his eyes, flowing like pools of burning honey. His dragon had been the same devastatingly beautiful shade.

His hands cupped her cheeks, and he stared down at her like nothing else in the world mattered but the two of them in this very moment. She’d enchanted a lot of men, but no one had ever looked at her like that. She arched against him, the dull ache building, growing beyond the shrinking boundaries of her control.

“Yes.” The word broke off her lips.

Makani leaned over, his lips closing over hers with gentle sweetness.

“No,” she growled against his mouth, pulling him hard against her. “More.”

He ran his tongue along her lips, tasting the strength of her resolve before plunging into her open mouth. This wasn’t like the last kisses they’d shared—not by a mile. He ravaged the inside of her mouth, devouring her with the same hunger that burned through his magic. He pulled away just long enough to slip her top over her head, then continued kissing her. His fingers danced across her bra, teasing her nipples through the thin lace.

“A perfect choice,” he said, his voice deeper than usual.

His magic crashed against her, electrifying her in a storm of cascading pleasures. Fire ruptured from every spot his magic kissed her, nipping, scraping her skin, enveloping it in an inferno of burning sensations. He unhooked her bra, tossing it aside with a flick of his wrist. Then he lowered his mouth to her breast, his tongue circling, teasing it. Her nipples hardened in anticipation, and as his mouth closed around one of them, sucking hard, a moan escaped her lips.

His hands locked around her hips, carrying her to the air mattress in the corner. He stretched her out on it, then slid down, peeling her pants off her legs. His fingers darted across the lacy ripples of her panties, lingering there for only a second, before tugging them off too. His magic slid between her legs, searing her flesh in a flash of heat that blinded her. His wicked smile crested as his mouth dipped lower.

“Wait,” she gasped, holding him back.

“No,” he said, his voice a thick rasp. “No waiting. I am going to rip that last shred of control from you. Only then can you be free.”

His tongue plunged between her legs, fire burning everywhere he licked. Her breath puffed out in stuttered moans. His tongue dove deeper, exploring every dip and crevice, pushing her toward an edge far more dangerous than that waterfall, drenching her in a river of wicked delirium. Overwhelmed, drowning, she let go, giving in. A piercing, penetrating point of fire-tipped desire shot through her body, bursting from her in a scream that catapulted her into a wrenching whirl of ecstasy. Her hips dropped to the mattress.